3 Quotes & Sayings By Alicia Suskin Ostriker

Dr. Alicia Suskin Ostriker is a Research Professor of Anthropology at Rutgers University and Director of the Rutgers Center for Maya Studies. She is a leading authority on Mesoamerica, especially the Maya. Her newest book, Writing the Maya Past: History, Archaeology and Society in Colonial Yucatán (University of Texas Press) is a collection of essays that synthesize her efforts to re-member the past and imagine the future from the perspectives of those who were there Read more

Dr. Ostriker was born in California to parents from Mexico, who met as students at Yale University. She received her B.A.

from Yale and her Ph.D from Stanford University’s Department of Anthropology, where she taught for many years as a Professor, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies, and Chair of the Department of Anthropology.

May, and after a rainy spring We walk streets gallant...
1
May, and after a rainy spring We walk streets gallant with rhododendrons. Alicia Suskin Ostriker
2
The life spills over, some days. She cannot be at rest, Wishes she could explode Like that red tree– The one that bursts into fire All this week. Senses her infinite smallness But can’t seize it, Recognizes the folly of desire, The folly of withdrawal– Kicks at the curb, the pavement, If only she could, at this moment, When what she’s doing is plodding To the bus stop, to go to school, Passing that fiery tree–if only she could Be making love, Be making a painting, Be exploding, be speeding through the universe Like a photon, like a shower Of yellow flames– She believes if she could only catch up With the riding rhythm of things, of her own electrons, Then she would be at rest– If she could forget school, Climb the tree, Be the tree, burn like that. Alicia Suskin Ostriker